I plucked a cherry out of her drink and popped it into my mouth. “I love cherries,” I said seductively, handing her the stem I had just tied with my tongue. It was a fun party trick that never failed to get a reaction from the ladies.
“Nicely done,” she giggled, angling her body closer to mine.
“I can do a lot of fun things with my tongue,” I informed her with a grin.
“Christ, I can’t leave you alone for a second, Hannah.”
My stomach tightened again. What the hell?
The girl’s friend had appeared beside her, long dark hair flowing behind her, low cut shirt revealing the right amount of creamy white skin. Her full lips were turned upward in a slight smile, probably because she hadn’t noticed me yet.
Hannah rolled her eyes. “Whatever. You’re such a party pooper.”
I leaned in close to Hannah’s friend, my lips brushing her hair. “Hi, Marlena,” I whispered into her ear.
Lena jumped as if I had shocked her. She whipped around and stared up at me, her eyes widening and then narrowing in irritation, just as I knew they would. I had spent a long time studying Marlena Ducate’s reaction to things. “I should have known Hannah would zero in on the biggest douche in the room.”
At her words, I felt a flash of something that felt too much like hurt. I pushed it away with an effortless smile. “Are you jealous I wasn’t saving all of my attention for you?” Lena made a face. “I don’t operate under the delusion that you save your attention for anyone at all. You’re too busy giving it away to whoever wants it.”
Hannah looked from Lena to me, a knowing look on her face. “I take it, the two of you know each other.”
“Unfortunately,” Lena muttered.
I slung my arm around Lena’s shoulders, squeezing her tight against my side. Her entire body went stiff and I tried to ignore the way she fit perfectly against me. I had learned years ago that she and I clicked a little too well. That was a big part of the problem. “The beautiful Marlena and I are old friends.”
“For the millionth time, stop calling me Marlena,” Lena growled, wiggling out from beneath my arm.
“This is Jeremy Wyatt, Adam’s other partner at the law firm,” Lena told her friend by way of introduction.
I held my hand out to Hannah, who shook it with a surprisingly firm grip. She lifted an eyebrow. “Ah, the jackass.”
I gave a pained chuckle. “The jackass? Come on now. You couldn’t think of a better descriptor? What about devastatingly handsome? Or the one with the genius level IQ? I’d have settled for the man with the quick wit and unfailing charm.”
Lena huffed, turning her back on me in order to get the bartender’s attention. “To say any of that, it would have to be true.”
Ouch.
“Now, darling, don’t go all Taming of the Shrew on me.” I gave Hannah another smile and a shrug as if to say, ‘she’s ridiculous, but what can I do?’
Hannah gave me a strange look before turning to Lena. “Watch my drink, will ya? I’m hitting the ladies.” She gave me a final once over, then a wave, before leaving me alone with the she-devil.
Given that I was still waiting on my Corona, I sat down on a stool beside Lena, who was making it a point not to look at me. Since her attention wasn’t on me, I took the opportunity to let my eyes drink their fill. Because, goddamn Marlena Ducate was a beautiful woman.
It had been the first thing I noticed about her all those years ago. But then I came to see that there was an amazing mind lurking underneath all that shiny hair and perfect skin. When she had come to work at the firm, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Our introduction years before hadn’t gone very well, so I wasn’t necessarily on board with the little sister hanging around. But Adam spoke glowingly about her of course, though I figured he was speaking from brotherly bias. I remembered her being sexy and sweet and she knew her shit when it came to the players in the town of Southport. But would she work as a paralegal? I wasn’t so sure.
That was before she proved how amazing she really was.
And she hated me. Despised me. Wanted to crush me beneath the heel of her sexy Manolo Blahniks.
I knew why. I had been callous toward her. I knew she had been interested in me back when I first met her. That night at the law firm’s launch, I hadn’t expected Adam’s younger sister to be so gorgeous and entertaining. I hadn’t expected to enjoy talking to her as much as I had. But she had been a naive undergrad and I was fresh out of law school and thought no one could touch me. I had liked her. I was ungodly attracted to her. I had wanted to bed her the second I laid eyes on here.